Patent GB-514973-A (GB)
Abstract: 514,973. Calculating-apparatus. NATIONAL CASH REGISTER CO. May 20, 1938, No. 15076. Convention date, May 20, 1937. [Class, 106 (i)] [Also in Group XVI] A calculating or similar accounting machine with a laterally movable carriage is provided with a driving means for the carriage which includes a fluid coupling. The coupling in addition to driving the carriage in a tabulating direction acts as a governor to control the speed of movement and to prevent excessive rebound. The driving means also includes a positive clutch for returning the carriage. The invention is shown applied to the Ellis type of machine as described in Specifications 28253/08, [Class 106], 348,105 and 461,347. The travelling carriage 36 which carries the platen 28, Fig. 1, is mounted by means of ball bearings on rails and the tabulating mechanism and return mechanism is driven by shafts 50, 171 and gearing 46, 45 from a shaft 39 that can be coupled to a continuously driven motor 38 by a one revolution clutch of known kind (not shown) that also drives the main operating mechanism. The shaft 50 drives the operating shaft 51 of a hydraulic clutch which comprises gears 53, 54, Figs. 2 and 3, that fit snugly in arcuate recesses in a housing 52 and are connected by a D-shaped channel 55 that forms a circulating path for a viscous fluid. The fluid is sealed by a gasket and top plate 61 and by a packing washer and nut 67. The housing is rotatably mounted in a hub 63 and is, formed with teeth meshing with a rack 56 having cam slots 57. engaging rollers on the carriage. The amount of revolving action which is imparted to the housing 52 by the gears 53, 54 is regulated by a screw 68. The tabulating movement is controlled by an escapement mechanism shown in Figs. 7 and 8; depression of a typewriter key rocks a lever 72 to shift a yoke 75 which is operatively connected through members 80, 83 to a lever 84 on which is mounted the escapement pawl 86 and stop pawl 95 of a ratchet wheel 88 integral with a, pinion 90 engaging a rack on the carriage. In addition to this letter-space tabulating a manual means, is provided to control the tabulating by means of stops 113 on a stop bar 93. co-operating with a plunger 99, Fig. 5. Depression of a lever 118, through levers 115, 108. raises the plunger 99 into the path of a lug on the stop 113 The lever 108 co-operates' with. a control plunger 122, Figs, 5 and 8, to rock a bell crank 123 operatively connected to a yoke 129 which raises an arm 131 to operate the escapement, pawl 86. To align the different columns of the record sheet with the printing means a known form of automatic tabulating means as described in Specification 461,347 is provided which is operated by a lever 139, Fig. 5, associated with the main operating shaft. This mechanism has a stop bar 146 and control bar 154 co-operating with a stop 169 on the carriage. Depression of the lever 139 sets tha bars 146,. 154, and through a lever 142 lowers the. control plunger 122 to release the escapement pawl. A tabulating key 100, Fig. 9, is also provided to depress the lever, 139 for manual operation. The carriage return mechanism which is similar to that described in Specification 461,423 is driven by the shaft 171, Fig. 1, which drives a clutter disc 174 that co-operates with a gear 175. When the carriage nears the end of its tabulating movement an adjustable stop arm 187, Fig. 4, engages the end 189 of a bar 186 which on displacement depresses. a plunger 185 to rock a lever 183 and through a lever 181 and spring 180 rocks a lever 176 to engages the clutch disc 174 and gear 175. Return movement of the carriage is terminated by a lug on a marginal stop 97 meeting the plunger 99. Continued movement of the gear 175 shifts the rack 56 which by engagement with a flange on the gear disengages, the clutch parts A fingerpiece on the bar 186 or a lever 193 can be manipulated to return the carriage from any desired position.